The Orange County Sheriff’s Office in Florida is investigating after a noose and several racist, threatening messages were sent to the office of a Black state prosecutor. The threats come after Orange-Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala announced her office would not pursue the death penalty in its cases — a decision that garnered Republican backlash.

Ayala received two envelopes with violent, racially charged messages. The first envelope, received on March 20, contained a message that said, “SOONER OR LATER A N****R WILL BE A N****R.” Also enclosed were business cards with the message, “You are an Honorary Member of S.P.O.N.G.E.” on one side and “Society for the Prevention of N****rs Getting Everything” on the other.

The envelope containing the noose was received on March 28. According to Orlando Weekly, it “contained an index card with a noose made of green twine taped to the card, according to the report.”

Both envelopes were sent to Ayala’s office in Orlando. The Sheriff’s Office has not confirmed whether or not both envelopes were sent by the same person.

“[Ayala] was advised of the envelopes and their contents,” according to the investigative report. “She believes that the hangman’s noose was meant as a threat to her as a public official. She also believes that the envelope received on March 20, 2017, was a racial message and could be determined to be a hate crime.”

Ayala is the first Black state attorney elected in Florida’s history. She was elected in November after defeating incumbent Jeff Ashton in the Democratic primary.

Ayala made waves, notably from the Republican Party, on March 16 when she announced she would not seek the death penalty in any of her office’s cases, including that of Markeith Loyd, who will stand trial for killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend, Sade Dixon, as well as Orlando Police Lt. Debra Clayton.

Gov. Rick Scott (R) removed Ayala from the case the very same day.

“I am outraged and sickened by this loss of life and many families’ lives have been forever changed because of these senseless murders,” the governor said in a statement. “These families deserve a state attorney who will aggressively prosecute Markeith Loyd to the fullest extent of the law and justice must be served.”

Scott also removed Ayala from the rest of the state’s capital cases — nearly two dozen in total.

State Rep. Bob Cortes (R-Altamonte Springs) released a statement on Twitter just after Ayala’s announcement slamming the prosecutor.

“I am outraged by the decision of State Attorney Aramis Ayala not to seek the death penalty in the case of Markeith Loyd,” Cortes said. “This is a decision that should be arrived at by a jury of Markeith Loyd’s peers, and to take it off the table is a slap in the face to his victims and to the wider law enforcement community.”

Rep. Chris Sprowls (R), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said he was looking into whether the prosecutor could be suspended for her decision.

“It is my opinion that she should absolutely be suspended, and that should then be forward to the Senate to confirm that removal,” Sprowls told Capitol News Service.
“I think the real threat now is that you have one state attorney who is unwilling to follow the law or even consider it, which could lead to a real danger for the death penalty statute in its entirety.”

More than 100 current and former lawyers, judges and law professors signed a letter to Scott saying the decision “exceeds your authority” and “sets a dangerous precedent.”

“Your unprecedented order in this matter, which seeks to unilaterally relieve State Attonrey Ayala of her duties in a local prosecution, exceeds your executive authority and compromises the integrity and independence of the prosecutorial branch and function,” the signers wrote.

The letter concludes, “Your removal of State Attorney Ayala is deeply concerning ot us, and should be to all Floridians. We urge you to reverse your decision to remove State Attorney Ayala from the Loyd prosecution.”

Ayala filed a lawsuit against Scott for his decision in the Loyd case.

As a state prosecutor, Ayala wrote, she has “complete authority over charging and prosecuting decisions,” and Scott can only intervene if he has “good and sufficient reasons.”

“A ‘good and sufficient reason,’ therefore, must be something other than a disagreement over how I should exercise my discretion in a particular case,” the prosecutor said in her filing.

12 comments

After whites have been given government entitlements, including free land through land grants for 400 years, they can’t stand to see one Black person EARNING a crumb from that same table! Every penny of the same welfare crumb, if not earned directly, it was earned indirectly through their SLAVE ancestors– it’s called being “PAID FORWARD!” AmeriKKKa, unlike the reparations paid to white Jews for a few years of their holocaust, will NOT pay us a penny for 400 years of inhumane torture, murder, rape, and educational denials.

This Black state attorney is WRONG and should be suspended or impeached. The victims of this monster deserve justice. People should reap what they have sown; if you kill or murder, you should be killed. The only objection I have with the death penalty is that it takes TOO LONG to kill any murderer or mass murderers like Manson, Dahmer, Gacy, Speck, BTK, and others.

Like liberal to the point of being STUPID O’Bama, this half-baked Aramis is missing the point! Victims’ families need closure and she’s denying them the opportunity and allowing these demonic monsters like Manson and Loyd to live forever.

Like O’Bama who pardoned over one thousand drug dealers and crackheads, this prison scum is not going into his posh neighborhood or suburbs, he unleashed these thugs into our African American communities to prey on us again!

You don’t need an execution to have justice or closure. What you need is a conviction and a prison sentence. Few killers are sentenced to death. There are serious problems with the administration of the death penalty in this country and you seem to be very uninformed of the extent and magnitude of those problems. Death is different and nobody has ever created a death penalty system that is guaranteed to exclude the innocent and the undeserving.

As to President Obama’s program of commuting sentences or granting pardons, you are likewise uninformed of the nature and extent of the unjust sentences that have been imposed on nonviolent drug offenders under the federal drug laws or the explosive growth of the federal prison population as a result of the largely if not completely failed war on drugs. I suggest that you do your homework and get better informed.

I, too, agree. What I find really upsetting is when the person screaming the loudest for the death sentence is a Christian. I guess they never read the New Testament. I don’t even claim to be a Christian, but I read the book. These people seek revenge, not justice.

Whoa, you need to slow your roll here. First of all, nobody’s getting away with anything here—-the thugs she won’t seek the death penalty for are already locked up, and will be forever. It’s her job to decide whether the death penalty was warranted or not—and it ‘s not about what these politicians want,either. That being said, she didn’t deserve to recieve death threats over it. Since trumpf’s been in office, way too many racists feel like they can spill their hate out onto whomever they want without any repercussions. That’s the real problem here—and obviously the fact is that some of these racists clearly feel threatened by a the fact that a black person is now the state prosecutor. Another thing—STOP bringing up Obama’s name all the time. He is no longer president, and frankly, your obsessive hate of him has been bordering on the insane for a long time. You need to let that go, for real, or get some help. I agree with everything you said in your first paragraph,though.

Thou shall not kill……..unless it is a lynching or the Government doing it……it ceases to be a sin then. Love the so called Christians that go around judging others……..but as long as they do it in the name of jesus it is all good.
As to the side issues of drug dealers and such……..the issue is non-whites were making money and we certainly can’t have that. So we legalize it…………..only whites can get a license to do it…..yet our black youth remain in prison for a petty crime for what is now legal.

You don’t have a problem with the death penalty with regard to:
1. Its being sought more frequently against Black defendants when the alleged crime is comparable?
2. Its being sought less frequently when the victim is Black?
3. Its being assessed more frequently against Blacks convicted of those comparable crimes?
4. Its being administered more frequently to Black convicts?
5. The number of defendants assessed the death penalty who were later exonerated?

The racist letters sent to State Attorney Aramis Ayala are egregious and should be seen as a hate crime. I am hopeful that the death penalty vs. life without the possibility of parole will be responsibly addressed across our nation; however, a hate crime response is of great concern to me.

The letters are definitely hateful and should be seen as a hate crime. The perpetrator(s) if found should be tried and sentenced as such. That said, she was wrong to take her stance on the death penalty. It doesn’t justify the threats but she was wrong. Also, you lump Republican’s in with the idiots making the threats. That is equally wrong and you are just preying on people’s emptions. The fact that the Governor took action does not mean he supports the moron who made the threats.

I don’t agree with the KKK but lady u need to follow OBAMA lead he had to do bin laden in obey the DEATH penalty when needed I mean this man was a cold blooded killer a cop killer baby mother killer I mean really he fits the bill I have to get up worry about where my next meal coming from stress about keeping a roof over my head and this guy set for life as far as medical care food heat AC lady please don’t be no fool when they do these crimes they themselves commit suicide